Mayline-Safco’s parent company has received offers to do business in northwest Iowa, potentially signaling a move by the furniture company to leave its Sheboygan factory.(Photo: Gary C. Klein/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin)Buy Photo

SHEBOYGAN – Mayline-Safco’s parent company has received offers to do business in northwest Iowa, potentially signaling a move by the furniture company to leave its Sheboygan factory.

The Iowa Economic Development Authority last week announced it had awarded a half-million dollars in loans and $15,000 in Iowa state tax credits to Mayline-Safco owner Liberty Diversified International.

Mayline has continued operating out of a factory near downtown Sheboygan since an acquisition by Safco Products last year brought the local furniture-maker under Liberty Diversified’s family of Midwestern companies. Liberty Diversified confirmed recently it has considered relocating the factory since last year and was eyeing a potential new property in northwest Iowa.

There was no official word from the company as of Monday that it was moving out of Sheboygan, where Mayline has done business for nearly 80 years. A Liberty Diversified spokesperson last week said the company was moving toward a potential relocation, but gave no indication of when it could make a decision.

That spokesperson wasn't available by phone Monday afternoon for an update on the company's position.

It wasn't immediately clear whether the Iowa business development agency's announcement indicated a move by Mayline-Safco was imminent. A media contact with the agency said Monday the decision merely indicated the state had offered business incentives to lure Liberty Diversified, but said the company still had to work toward a contract agreeing to those incentives.

Still, the announcement indicated the Hawkeye State was moving seriously toward incentivizing a move that would bring Liberty Diversified’s furniture-manufacturing operations to Milford, a tiny city close to the Minnesota border.

"The company is purchasing an existing facility in Milford to increase manufacturing capacity because of rapid growth," the Iowa Economic Development Authority said in a news release announcing the incentives.

Kanan Kappelman, marketing manager for the state business agency, on Monday said the deal included a $500,000 loan — half of it forgivable and the other half to be paid off without interest over five years — and $15,000 in state tax credits.

City officials in Milford have also agreed to award incentives to Liberty Diversified, though the company last week said it hadn't decided whether to agree to the city's offer.

Wisconsin and Sheboygan officials have made overtures to keep the company here, though it wasn't immediately clear Monday what those offers included.

City and local economic officials have had “extensive discussions” with company leaders to keep the local factory from leaving Sheboygan, City Administrator Darrell Hofland said Monday. But he declined to say what incentives had been offered to the company, which employs an estimated 185 workers in Sheboygan.

“The city’s position is not to disclose any details associated with any incentives that the city offered,” Hofland said.

Dane Checolinski, director of the Sheboygan County Economic Development Corporation, also declined to comment specifically about local officials’ efforts to keep the company from moving.

The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation has worked with Sheboygan officials since July 2017 to keep Mayline-Safco and Liberty Diversified International from moving, WEDC Spokesman Mark Maley said in an email Monday.

His email offered no specific details on those efforts, though Maley referenced "possible state incentives" to avoid a relocation. And Gov. Scott Walker had spoken with Liberty Diversified leadership “to make a strong case for why Mayline should continue to grow in Wisconsin,” Maley said.

“WEDC will continue to work with the City of Sheboygan, the Sheboygan County Economic Development Corporation and the governor’s office on the future of the Mayline facility and we look forward to continued conversations with the company,” Maley said.

Hofland said he and several other Sheboygan city and business leaders had traveled to Minneapolis this year to talk with the president of Liberty Diversified in a bid to keep the company from moving its Sheboygan operations. The company at the time, though, told city leaders it was considering “multiple sites in multiple states,” Hofland said.

Potential job losses would come as a sting should Mayline-Safco move out of its furniture-making factory in Sheboygan, though Checolinski said possibly displaced workers should find a manufacturing job market that's poised to rehire them.

“Obviously, the immediate loss of manufacturing jobs in Sheboygan County is not welcome news,” Checolinski said Monday, before a decision by the company on a potential move had been announced.

"Good news is Sheboygan County's demand for workforce right now is very strong," he added, noting he estimated there were as many as 500 open manufacturing positions in the county waiting to be filled. "We should be able to absorb that number of jobs in the local economy."

Mayline-Safco's history in Sheboygan dates to 1939, when a company known then as the Engineering Supply Company began manufacturing tables. By last year, Mayline specialized in producing a range of office furniture, including filing and storage products.